The Experts on Admissions to Top Colleges - Ivy Compass

College Admissions Essay: 5 Essay Tips

Posted by Jennifer Duran at 9:08 am

With college admissions competition at an all-time high, the personal statement can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection.  Even stellar students can falter if they are careless in the execution of the essay.  Avoid the typical pitfalls with these simple tips:

* Write about something personal that tells a story about you. Write about something you know or have experienced.  The essay needs to give the reader a sense of who you are.  While the essay should address something personal, be very careful exploring topics that are generally uncomfortable or taboo.  For some good examples of bad topics, read this.

* Follow directions. Be sure that your essay addresses the question that is asked and that the length of the essay falls within the range indicated – generally 250-500 words in length, or one to two pages. Applications often include instructions on essay topic and length.  Admissions officers reading through hundreds – sometimes thousands – of applications appreciate students who adhere to the guidelines.

* Begin your essay with a clever opening. An attention grabbing beginning is likely to catch the eye of the reader.  Be sure the rest of the essay passes muster so you can hold the reader’s attention.  The essay should be engaging and the body and conclusion need to support what you set out to discuss in your opening.

* Avoid submitting your resume in essay form. Don’t repeat yourself by restating your extracurricular activities in your personal statement.  Your activity sheet should include all of these involvements and achievements already.  Your essay needs to explore a topic that is not already described in your application—unless you have something compelling to share about a particular experience that cannot be captured on your activity sheet.

* Proofread your essay. Review the essay with an eye for mechanics.  Correct all typos and grammatical errors.  Be mindful of your tone.  Make sure that your essay is neither too formal, nor too informal.  Any careless mistakes will signal to the admissions officer that you are not serious about your candidacy.

Remember that there is a real, live person reading your application.  Writing the college essay is a challenge, but also a great opportunity for you to share who you are and what makes you unique.

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: application essay

What Selective College Admissions Is Not

Posted by Erin Lewis at 10:01 am

Sometimes it’s difficult to explain to applicants exactly what the college admissions process is at Ivy League and other selective liberal arts schools in the US.  Sometimes it’s just easier to explain what it’s not.

Last week NPR ran a story on South Korea’s national college entrance exam.  Specifically, the impact that the exam’s administration has on the entire country.  Roads close, airplanes are re-routed and the work day starts an hour later.  Why?  Because so much depends upon this one test date; each student’s college plans may rest on the results of this 9 hour test.

Obvious differences aside, the selective college admissions process at Ivies and other selective schools in the US follow a more holistic approach than relying on test results to render admission decisions.  According to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (otherwise known as “NACAC”), the most important factors in college admission include: grades in college preparatory courses, strength of curriculum, standardized test scores, overall grades, essay/writing sample, rank, recommendation (counselor), demonstrated interest, recommendation (teacher), interview and extracurricular activities.  Note that test scores are only part of the equation.

If you are applying to a selective college in the United States, there is reason to take seriously your standardized test preparation.  Here’s a good article about the SAT scores you’ll need to be considered for admission to top colleges and universities in the US; for ACT scores read this.  Applicants with average test scores have the ability to re-test and they also have control over whether to send SAT scores to certain schools using an option called Score Choice.  You can read my take on Score Choice here.

Since test scores are only one part of the application, understanding how to use the rest of your application to showcase your strengths is your best bet–whether you have scored a 2400 or not.  While admitted students tend to achieve statistically similar grades and test scores, it’s your story that will set you apart.  Use your essay and short answers to communicate your passions, commitments and character.  While your grades and test scores help to put you on the radar, it is your story that will compel the admissions office to offer you a place in next year’s class.

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: act, nacac, sat, score choice

Admissions Blog Round-Up: November 16

Posted by Erin Lewis at 9:16 am

Want to know what’s going on in the admissions blogosphere? We’ve rounded up some recent posts for you to enjoy over your Monday morning coffee:

Everyone knows that researching colleges can be one of the most time-consuming parts of the admissions process.  Guide and Seek’s latest post spotlights InsideCollege, a site that vets colleges and groups them by a particular attribute to help students pare down (or build up) their own college list.  The post gives examples of InsideCollege lists including:  honors programs at a public university, loan-free education to low-income students, and colleges known for their school spirit.   There are over 700 lists to choose from.  The value added is that you may find new reasons to apply to college that you’ve never even considered before!  By the way, the site has a list of colleges with no tuition.

CollegeInSight, currently in beta, is another college search site picked up by the College Admissions Partners Blog.  This site allows for a search by statistics, so you are responsible for doing the actual research.

Allen’s College Admissions Blog highlights the tough competition facing students transferring into California’s state university system from its community colleges.

This morning’s blog post at The Choice is also about community colleges.  This post is about the entire nation’s overburdened community college system as gauged by the Community College Survey of Student Engagement.   You can also leave questions and comments for the director of the center for Community College Student Engagement, Kay McClenney, from the site.

Interested in having your blog featured?  Let us know in the comments!

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: allen's college admissions blog, blogs, college admissions, college admissions partners, college search, collegeinsight, guide and seek, insidecollege, the choice

SAT Late Registration Deadline Extended

Posted by Erin Lewis at 9:22 am

SAT test takers should note the following announcement from The College Board:

“The December late registration deadline has been extended to 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time), Friday, November 13, 2009, for online, phone, and mailed registrations.

  This extended deadline applies to registrations for test centers within the United States, U.S. Territories and U.S. Commonwealths.  

Late registration is not available for international registrations.”

Keep in mind that you will need a credit card (American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa) to register online.

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: sat

A Word On College Admissions Blogs

Posted by Erin Lewis at 8:29 am

Today, you have the benefit of free advice on college admissions from all kinds of guides, books and blogs.  But remember, sometimes you get what you pay for.

A couple of days ago, I ran across a post entitled the Top 75 College Admissions Blogs. A day or so later, I read another post entitled the Top 50 Blogs to Help You Apply for College.  I think that some of the recommendations are good ones—Allen’s College Admissions Blog and The Choice for example, but others don’t deserve their “top” designation.  In addition, there are other very helpful resources that don’t even make these lists.  One big oversight is Study Hacks which doesn’t advertise itself as an admissions blog, but offers 13 features on college admissions to date.  He gives great advice about navigating the admissions process and being a successful student—two things that obviously go hand in hand.  Neither of these lists make mention of admissions offices that host their own blogs or blogs that might help you with coursework, organization or college planning.

To get you started, I’d recommend using your feed reader (I like Google Reader and I use NetNewsWire on my mac) to aggregate blogs from the admissions offices of the schools that interest you (and if they don’t have an admissions blog, you can look for student blogs) as well as blogs that you’ll want to read on a regular basis.

For the latter, I’d recommend starting with Allen’s College Admissions Blog, Study Hacks, and The College Solution Blog.  Since you’re reading this post, I hope you’ll subscribe to Ivy Compass, too.

Are there any blogs you’d like to share with our readers that have been particularly helpful to you as you navigate the college admissions admissions process?  Are there any blogs from admissions offices, in particular, that have been helpful to you?

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: allen grove, blogs, college admissions, college solution blog, google reader, netnewswire, study hacks